Cielo bajo: Suites

by Federico García Lorca

Suites is one of the most charming and melodious of all of Garcia Lorca's poem series. Written early in his career, most of these poems remained unpublished during his lifetime and were later reassembled from notebooks. The first appearance of this work in English was in a small chapbook, titled Suites (Sun & Moon Press), and in the Collected Poems of 1988; but the current edition of Selected Verse contains only a fraction of this important series. This is the first complete single-volume edition of this great work.

Genres: Poetry, Spain, Literature

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Born in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, Spain, June 5 1898; died near Granada, August 19 1936, García Lorca is one of Spain's most deeply appreciated and highly revered poets and dramatists. His murder by the Nationalists at the start of the Spanish civil war brought sudden international fame, accompanied by an excess of political rhetoric which led a later generation to question his merits; after the inevitable slump, his reputation has recovered (largely with a shift in interest to the less obvious works). He must now be bracketed with Machado as one of the two greatest poets Spain has produced in the 20th century, and he is certainly Spain's greatest dramatist since the Golden Age.

Reviews

[Haruka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Federico García Lorca was the first poet who's work I had an actual experience with. When I would read poetry, sometimes there would be some beautiful words, some beautiful sentences, something beautiful. But it wasn't real, it was never visceral, never something that I could feel and have a real, pure relationship with. It was just words on a paper, and it was boring and lifeless.

But when I read his poems. It is alive. It is like watching a lion two meters in front of you. It is like watching an enormous, incredibly beautiful giraffe galloping over the savannah. Standing and watching with your heart racing, with an endless sentiment that has been shared, a sentiment of endless complete fulfilment. It is like tasting real silence. When I read his words, there is an instant reaction. It is like touching fire and feeling the burn. It is alive, it is real. It is alive and real, before it is beautiful. Which is what is the difference between dead poetry, at least, dead as I have perceived it, and something real. When I read his poems I can both see and feel the fire burning inside him, I can see its shape, its colors. I can see how it moves. I can feel him inside me. Because, he is wide open and free, and so beautiful, so pure, so endless. I can see him. He is beautiful, he is real. And I love him.

[igone 🍒 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sí, sí, sí y sí.

[c · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Esperad a los vientos
cargados de semillas
y paisajes inéditos.
Floreced y arrancaos
la floración de nuevo,
vestidos inefables,
corazón, carne y hueso.”

La sensibilidad que hay en Cielo Bajo es muy distinta a la del resto de la producción de Lorca. No es tan pasional como lo es Romancero Gitano, ni tan mortal como la de Poeta en Nueva York. Es una colección de su producción temprana, y eso conlleva que sea más más inocente, más suave, más tenue.

Aún así, como siempre ocurre con las palabras de granadino, su poesía y sus historias llegan a lo más hondo del alma, acompañado de las acacias, de los surtidores, de los bosques, de las estrellas y de las sombras. Todo lo que él escribe, se invoca, tanto que sus palabras se vuelven táctiles, y te acompañan como una oración repetida una y otra vez.

[e · Rating 5 out of 5]

The backwater of air
under this echo's branches.

The backwater of water
under that frond of stars.

The backwater of your mouth
under our thickening kisses.

[Arlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read a little inside but most of it outside-both stationary and while walking. Being outside in a nice environment definitely enhanced the experience.

[Edgar Cajero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poesía que deja sentir ese vacío que existe entre el observador y el mundo. Algunos poemas quizás sean más que ejercicios

[Carmen Noemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gustaron mucho los poemas. Sobre todo los románticos, son preciosos. Los dedicados a la vida misma, igual ✨

[Marlon Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s essentially hundreds of beautiful poems on very similar topics (mainly the countryside). i really enjoyed them and if there were like 50 in total itd be a solid 5*s but the repetition got to me in the end i guess?

[Toté Pilgrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excepcional introducción. Para alguien con poca experiencia en la lectura de poesía (cómo es mi caso) resulta un reto enfrentarse a estas suites.

[Stella Dimare · Rating 5 out of 5]

No puedes contemplarte
en el mar
Tus miradas se tronchan
como tallos de luz
Noches de la tierra